A party is already in the US capital to press for a meeting with the president of Mexico
An entourage of immigrant leaders from across the country arrived in Washington, D.C. over the weekend. with the intention of pressing for a meeting with the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador to ask for their support for an immigration reform, a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for essential workers and an innovative program of productive projects in their places of origin.
"The odds of seeing it are good. We have already requested a meeting and we are waiting for a response because the president must remember that we send $ 3 billion in remittances every month, and we deserve that he find time on his agenda to listen to us. That without counting the spill for the tourism that the countrymen generate when traveling to our land to see the family, ”said Juan José Gutiérrez, leader of the Coalition for the Full Rights of Immigrants.
From California, they arrived on Sunday, July 5, to the US capital, Juan José Gutiérrez; Guadalupe “Lupe” Gómez representing 14 federations of Zacatecans from all over the country; and other leaders such as Aniceto “Cheto” Polanco, secretary of One Stop Immigration Center (OSIED); José Antonio Rojas, Vice President of Vamos Unidos; and Arnoldo Borja of the Federation of Michoacan Clubs of Northern California.
This is the first trip that López Obrador made to the United States as President of Mexico. On July 2, he served two years of being elected and 19 months as ruler.
He comes to sign the new Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada; and to hold a meeting with President Donald Trump on July 8 and 9. It is not yet known if the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, will be present.
"First, we are going to ask you to open a position very close to the presidency exclusively to attend to the needs of Mexicans residing in the United States," said Juan José.
"If they succeed, we would not accept that they impose a representative who does not come from the United States and does not know the migrant problem," he warned.
But they also want to ask López Obrador to support them in achieving immigration reform, to protect the ‘dreamers’ and to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to temporary immigrant workers. A program that would authorize them a work permit, and stop their deportation.
As a background, we have that in June, mMore than 20 leaders, members of the Migrant Force and other pro-immigrant organizations, arrived at the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles to deliver a letter to AMLO, requesting their support for the request made to President Trump for the TPS to be given to essential immigrant workers who have not stopped working during the coronavirus pandemic.
"We would like to emphasize that the majority of workers in the identified sectors of the economy are Mexican.s ”, the leaders told him through the letter written by Juan José.
"The United States Congress established this legal protection, the TPS as an effective way to provide relief to immigrants residing in the country, whose nations have suffered natural disasters, prolonged upheaval or conflict," they explained to AMLO.
We want you to hear us
Guadalupe “Lupe” Gómez, leader of the Federation of Zacatecan Clubs of Southern California, who also led the representation of more than a dozen Zacatecan federations from other parts of the country, said that they will present AMLO with a proposal for an innovative program to replace to the disappeared 3 × 1 program.
"Our proposal is to create infrastructure works and productive projects in our towns in Mexico," observed Guadalupe, who did not want to give further details until he exposed it to the president.
"We are experiencing very difficult times in Mexico due to the pandemic. Today more than ever jobs are required, and our proposal is aimed at creating them", he pointed.
The 3 × 1 program supported migrants with development projects in their communities of origin. For each contribution of migrants, the municipal, state and federal governments put their proportional part. However, when AMLO became president, the federal budget was withdrawn.
But how to prevent a program of this nature from being corrupted, how it happened in some cases such as 3 × 1 or falling into vices. “Precisely that devalued this program. We want to put locks on it so that this does not happen, and that it is the clubs and communities that decide the works that are going to be done with their donations, ”said Guadalupe.
He added that the proposal is for a much better noble program than the famous 3 × 1. "We just want to say, Mr. President, listen to us!"
López Obrador obtained more than 70% of the votes of Mexicans in the United States in the election that led him to the presidency; and won with 53% of the votes of Mexicans.
Even with constant criticism of his government; and despite the serious problem of insecurity in Mexico, according to a survey by the newspaper El País of Spain, two years after he won the presidency, he remains in the preferences of Mexicans at 68.4%.
